Status of Digital Repositories in India: A Quantitative Study

The development of open source digital library software brings an avenue in the pattern of library and information services to collect, organise, preserve and disseminate information resources to the diverse user community.  Digital repositories are created by different institution, organization and agencies to preserve their intellectual output to serve their user.  This paper highlights the present status of Digital Repository (DR) in India by its collection type, subject coverage and total number of digital repository collections available to academic community as open sources. For this purpose, the Directory of Open Access Repositories (OpenDOAR) and the Registry of Open Access Repositories (ROAR) have been consulted and recorded 111 DRs in India. Based on the finding the strength of IR is quite satisfactory as compare with other developing countries. The research institutions in India are actively involved in the development of institutional repositories. Use of open source software, especially DSpace, is found to be most commonly used for the creation of DRs in India

Therapeutic potential of quercetin in the management of type-2 diabetes mellitus

Diabetes Mellitus (DM) is a metabolic disorder that is spreading alarmingly around the globe. Type-2 DM (T2DM) is characterized by low-grade inflammation and insulin resistance and is closely linked to obesity. T2DM is mainly controlled by lifestyle/dietary changes and oral antidiabetic drugs but requires insulin in severe cases. Many of the drugs that are currently used to treat DM are costly and present adverse side effects. Several cellular, animal, and clinical studies have provided compelling evidence that flavonoids have therapeutic potential in the management of diabetes and its complications. Quercetin is a flavonoid, present in various natural sources, which has demonstrated in vitro and in vivo antidiabetic properties. It improves oral glucose tolerance, as well as pancreatic β-cell function to secrete insulin. It inhibits the α-glucosidase and DPP-IV enzymes, which prolong the half-life of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) and glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP). Quercetin also suppresses the release of pro-inflammatory markers such as IL-1β, IL-4, IL-6, and TNF-α. Further studies are warranted to elucidate the mode(s) of action of quercetin at the molecular level. This review demonstrates the therapeutic potential of quercetin in the management of T2DM